The Amityville Horror has come up a few times here. I'm pretty sure I've seen it--years ago, and quite possibly a bowdlerized version on TV--but it didn't make much of an impression. I remember Rod Steiger throwing up in a sink, and that's about it.

I don't believe something like THE EXORCIST can ever happen in reality, but for me, it's more about the relatively-plausible approach to the material, the believable performances, the imagery, music and sound. Even just listening to this movie gives me the willies!

•••

I can watch Flash Gordon fly to Mars, or Jason lead his Argonauts in search oh the Golden Fleece, or even watch a man shrink until he has to fight for his life against a common house spider, because none of these pretend to be real. THE EXORCIST pretends to be real -- and many accept it as such. Which is why I can't buy it.

DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK, eh? I live alone in an apartment. I still haven't watched the DVD. I can't. I saw it on TV. Unless someone wants to come and live with me (or at least stay a week). Hey, I'm legitimately scared.

Odd, I know. I watched THE CHANGELING again about five years ago. Despite believing there are no such things as ghosts, I could not get certain things out of my head. Even a dripping tap plays on your mind. I can't explain it.

THE OMEN and THE EXORCIST scared me.

I don't think it'd scare me now, but I saw THE FUNHOUSE in my teens. Funhouses always seemed, well, fun to me (as did funfairs, carnivals, etc.). But with that movie showing the horrors that took place in one, I can't really look at them in the same way.

And as for the final scenes in HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH and 1978's INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS...

Beware of the original AMITYVILLE HORROR, Ted. It's really pretty bogus... it's the kind of horror film that you first have to see when you're young, for it to have any real impact.

It looks like a TV movie, and aside from James Brolin and Margot Kidder, most of the performances aren't terribly good--Rod Steiger hams it up in a big way, for one; and a scene with a mildly-possessed Helen Shaver is a laugh riot.

However... some bits here & there still tap into the fear & dread I first felt when I saw it as a kid--the main theme music and the demonic cry of "GET... OUT!!!" being two notable examples, for me.

Irresistible premise, I love horror films but don't necessarily watch them to be scared I just... like them. There's a Stephen King quote defending his right to like ugly monsters and ghouls as much as other people like romance and heroes... I can't find it now, but it's my feeling too.

Having said that, I'll try to list some films that genuinely scared me in the "I need to stop watching this" way, but that doesn't mean they're the best horror films or even good:

- DON'T LOOK NOW (it's also crazy good)

- JU-ON (before the "japanese kid ghost" was a cliché I was absolutely terrified by this)

- THE STRANGERS

- DEEP RED

- MARTYRS (the first half)

- AUDITION

- INSIDE

- V/H/S 2 (the Indonesian cult segment)

- PET SEMATARY

- THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (saw it as a kid, thought of it not as a normal movie but some horrible footage shot by an actual madman)

- THE BROOD

- REC

- THE DESCENT (incredibly tense even before the monsters show up)

- THE THING (did I say tense?)

- 28 WEEKS LATER (best zombie opening scene ever)

Most on my list are international or vintage, Hollywood doesn't seem to produce truly scary films anymore. Maybe it's a market thing... of the recent stuff I thought IT FOLLOWS and THE BABADOOK were pretty good but not in the really scary kind.

I watched all kinds of horror films as a kid and none of them bothered me until one night I caught a made for TV film called Don't Go to Sleep, with Dennis Weaver. It absolutely freaked me out and I couldn't get to sleep for a few nights.

That was back in the mid 80s and I wouldn't watch it again until a couple of years ago and though I managed to finish , I had a constant feeling of dread as I did so!

I wouldn't watch it again until a couple of years ago and though I managed to finish , I had a constant feeling of dread as I did so!

That was my feeling with THE EQUINOX. Mentioned it in my picks. Scared the shit out of me as a kid. Had nightmares about it well into an age when those kinds of things shouldn't scare me. Then I saw the Criterion edition on the cheap years ago and bought it. Scared to put it in, I finally watched it. Not nearly as frightening as it was to a kid of eight, but it still had a demonic sense of dread and fear that I couldn't quite shake. I'm sure it had a ton to do with time and place, even nearly 50 years later, but whatever it hoped to accomplish...it did for me. It's a fairly well-regarded, influential horror film albeit one most don't know a thing about. It wouldn't have gotten a Criterion release if it didn't have significance!

I did see "The Birds" when I was about 12 on TV. The scene with the guy in the phone booth with his eyes pecked out freaked me out.

As an adult:

A friend of mine and I went to a midnight showing of Romero's Night of the Living Dead. We had to walk the long way around after the film to get to our car, and man o man, it was really unnerving. Parts of that film were really scary.

The remake of "Dawn of the Dead" had its share of scary moments, especially when the outbreak first occurs.

I still haven't gotten my nerve up to see The Exorcist or the original Jaws. I've got the latter one out from the Library, so I'll try and watch it this weekend.

I was a scaredy cat so I didn't watch a lot of horror until I was older and an atheist so most didn't get to me. That said, the films that have freaked me out:

THE WIZARD OF OZ- for me, the annual showing of this film was torture. The witch, played so perfectly by Margaret Hamilton, badly scared me until I was around 5.

HALLOWEEN- saw this for the first time while house-sitting for a friend whose roof creaked in weird ways and all I could imagine was Michael Myers emerging from a dark doorway. (edited to say MICHAEL, not MIKE Myers. Though both might be a bit scary.)

THE HAUNTING- Five words: "Whose hand was I holding?"

THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY?- Okay, a bit of a cheat but this movie disturbed me and scared me (for the character's lives) and it's horrific, if not horror.

PSYCHO- Hitchcock died when I was 8. My father normally allowed no TV while eating dinner but he was a teacher and there was a teacher's strike going on and well, when Hitchcock dies, what scene are they going to show? I took a shower with the bathroom door open for years as though that would somehow make me safer. Never saw the film in its entirety for an additional 17 and then I loved it.

Hands down the one that scared me the most... In the summer of 1975 when the film was released, I was about the same age (and build) as Alex Kintner the kid on the raft who gets attacked just a few yards from shore right in front of Chief Brody.

Although it scared the heck of me as a kid, the movie is now one of my absolute favorites to watch. After reading about all of the obstacles that were overcome in trying to make the film, I still think it is one of (if not the) best movie that Spielberg has ever made.

Bill Collins said: Phil, i can`t believe you`ve not seen Jaws, i lookforward to reading your thoughts once you`ve seen it! ------------------------------------------------------------ -----------I should clarify that I've seen bits and pieces of the film over the years and I read the book many years ago. I still want to see the film from beginning to end. I still haven't, but I've renewed the film so I've got 3 weeks to view it. I'll likely watch it next week (week of July 15) as my wife will be out of town. I'll keep you posted.

Movies haven't scared me since I was very young. Soem do register as either Creepy of Disturbing though.

EXORCIST - There were no specific scenes that I thought were particularly scary but the mood especially when they started the exorcism was creepy. What really freaked me out was the music during the end credits. I was also impressed with how well Max Von Sydow played old. I really thought he was that age.

RING -Saw this in the theater on a "dark and stormy night" I thought it was the creepiest movie I saw in years.

THE PROPHECY - Saw this when I was young. Remember it as scary as I was watching it alone home and there was a neighbourhood wide black out about 2 minutes after the monster appeared on screen.

THE OTHER - Still disturbing after all these years.

GARGOYLES -Scared me when I was young especially due to the scene where a Gargoyle rises slowly at the foot of a bed.

SSNAKE! - Saw this accidentally in my youth. Firmly established a lifelong dislike of snakes.

THE SPELL - This was a TV movie about a teenage witch exacting horrible revenge on her enemies. There was a scene where a victim started out with a fever and ended with melted flesh. That stuck in my head for years.

...THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY?- Okay, a bit of a cheat but this movie disturbed me and scared me (for the character's lives) and it's horrific, if not horror...

Not a cheat in my book. I would certainly count it, as my question is about movies that scared you, not that they necessarily have to be horror or monster films. Heck, a film about war can be scary to many. That's why some of my own examples were not really "scary" movies, but still had something about them that did scare me as a kid.

You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot create polls in this forumYou cannot vote in polls in this forum